Zihaiguo mocked a customer's death claim in an ad and was fined 800,000 yuan

Zihaiguo is a Chinese instant self-heating hotpot brand. In late 2022, a woman died after eating its garlic-clam self-heating pot and her family sued the company for 1.76 million yuan in damages. While the product-liability case was still unresolved, the brand's Tmall store listed a product in February 2023 titled '176万致富款花蛤粉' — roughly, '1.76-million-yuan get-rich clams' — with images that referenced the lawsuit.

The listing was widely condemned as mocking the deceased and her family. The Shanghai Administration for Market Regulation investigated and ruled that the ad violated China's Advertising Law by harming social public order and good morals. In March 2023 it fined the store operator, Shanghai Meiling Catering Management, 800,000 yuan and ordered the ad removed.

Zihaiguo apologised, said it accepted the penalty, and promised to strengthen its review processes. The case became a textbook example of how crisis-response marketing can turn a product dispute into a nationwide reputational disaster.